Input from existing users is a very important part of how Instructure prioritizes work on new and existing features as well as fixing bugs. Instructure looks at data from support and gets feedback from customer success managers (CSMs) as well as from the Community directly. Learn more about sharing ideas and the development process.

Where can I vote?

How are ideas processed?

Please allow time for the review process to occur before sharing your idea link with others.

A new idea may be pulled out of voting if the idea is incomplete or needs clarification from the contributor.

The Coaches and the Community team may also apply organizational tags, or archive any idea with explanation.

How long are ideas open for vote?

Ideas are open for six months. Following six months, ideas in the top 10th percentile of the vote will remain in the general forum and open for voting. Ideas in the bottom 90th percentile will be archived and moved out of the general forum which makes room for new ideas.

The archive process will occur monthly, on the first Wednesday of each month. Ideas that are part of the bulk archival process do not receive comments at the time of their move to Cold Storage.

How do I vote?

The vote score is located at the top of the idea [1]. To add your vote, click the Vote up button [2], or to decrease the vote, click the Vote down button [3].

How are ideas connected to Product priorities?

Ideas are connected to product priorities using tags. Tags are searched to provide a list of related ideas.

What do the stages mean?

Moderating

An idea that is incomplete or needs clarification may be pulled out of voting. During this process, the idea moderators place the idea into Moderating status, pausing the voting process. Idea moderators may request that the author provide clarification or complete additional actions before the idea can be released from moderation status.

In Development

In Development ideas are being worked on or plan to be worked on in the next six months. Most of these ideas will be linked to a Product priority, which include related ideas and other activities around development. If we mark an idea as being In Development, we will comment and say whether the idea might be implemented soon or whether we know it will be more long term.

Archived ideas may have fallen short of rising to the top in six months or it may have been marked as not planned. We will comment and provide clear reasons for why an idea has been archived. Some ideas cannot be developed because of a technical limitation. Others do not fit with overall product direction, or do not warrant the resources they would take to implement, relative to other requests.

Complete

Complete ideas have been implemented and deployed to Canvas.

Can I resubmit an idea after it is archived?

Technically, ideas can be resubmitted. As the needs of Canvas users change, an archived idea today may resurface with greater momentum months from now. A resubmitted idea may or may not move through the voting process again, depending on the reasons for its archive.

A resubmission may not be likely to move forward in the voting process if our product team has indicated why the idea is not currently moving forward for development.

A resubmission may warrant a second look and open another round of voting if the original idea was too vague, did not showcase enough use cases, lacked a critical number of votes, etc.

As the Community Team, our goal is to foster a place for ideas to surface organically and encourage community members to support those they believe are most relevant and timely.

What is 'Cold Storage'?

Honoring our commitment to not delete Community content, your idea may have made the journey to Cold Storage because of one of the following factors:

The idea was not in the top 10 percentile of votes within its lifespan

Select ideas are moved from the general Community to keep the Community search results precise and uncluttered. If you want the additional chaos of more abundant search results, you can elect to join Cold Storage in order to see ALL idea submissions.

Are there any considerations for voting on feature ideas?

Although all ideas are equally considered, the votes will help Instructure to better prioritize to meet needs. Read the considerations below to help during the voting cycles.

C = Core Products

The feature ideas forum is primarily dedicated to ideas about Canvas and the core features that support the product. Consider those ideas that you think will effectively enhance the application of Canvas, both in the immediate future and in the long run.

A = All Users

We understand that every institution or organization has different needs. We want to get a better idea of ways an idea might impact all users across all markets or audiences. Your votes will help us identify these needs more intuitively.

N = Navigation

Interested in just admin feature ideas? Want to see the ideas submitted for quiz settings? We've done our best to add tags to help you navigate and filter through ideas more effectively.

V = Vote (Up and Down)

You know the saying "a rising tide lifts all boats"? While it's easy to vote every idea up, we are looking to your guidance to help us differentiate various ideas, which means we want to see many ideas voted UP as well as DOWN.

A = Add a Comment

Like you, we are seeking to understand the applications and use-cases for each idea. If you stumble upon an idea that is interesting, please help us by posting follow-up questions or additional insights. Every idea has an option to 'add a comment.' Sometimes the best 'a-ha' moments come from reading through various comment threads.

S = Share

Next to each idea is a share link. Use this link to share the idea via direct message, email it to your faculty or post it to your group in the Canvas Community. This is your way to advocate and gain support for an idea for which you feel strongly.

Your continued support and participation in the community forums are very valuable to Canvas as a product and to the user experience. We urge you to keep sharing, commenting, and voting.

We periodically clean up the comments on this document to keep them manageable for our readers. If a question or comment has been addressed we may remove it.